A Little Push
by forsakenfuckery
Summary: Nick/OFC & Jess/OMC - Eventual Ness
1. Beyonce

"Calm down, It's.. this is all.. going to be okay and in an hour, you'll feel super silly about it," Jess said, for at least the fifth or fourth hour in a row, to her long-legged best friend who, she was pretty sure, wasn't even listening to the words of comfort. CeCe had been bawling her eyes out onto one of Jess' favorite skirts for the past five hours. Perhaps she had been blubbering a shit load of questions under the category of _am I doing the right thing by marrying this complete and total British stranger? _But Jess wasn't really certain.

There were two versions of the model that were sort of unfamiliar territory for Jess: She couldn't deal with drunk on Jack Daniel's CeCe; and, funny enough, she couldn't deal with emotionally drunk CeCe either. Since they were in their years of adolescent youth, Cecelia was the stronger of the two; she was always well-guarded, whereas a gusty wind could make Jessica Day burst into a hysterical bout of waterworks.

Winston poked his head through the bedroom door, face arranged with concern. "Is she okay?"

Jess looked up, face almost sullen before being rearranged by a bit of shock. Winston was the last person she expected to burst into the door, but in all honesty, she was just thankful it wasn't Nick- perhaps even Schmidt, because she could only handle one emotionally damaged person at a time. The only man in the room surely sensed her hesitation and, what was probably concern (?), on her features and interjected, "We had to tie Schmidt up." The sentence may have sounded odd, maybe even complex, to an outsider but Jess understood and simply nodded. She needed no further explanation of why he was there, invading a girl crisis.

"She's not okay, Winston," Jess finally answered the question after a long sigh, her hand stroking CeCe's back continuously as if all the world would cease to exist if she didn't show her friend all the love and affection she could in just the one simple act. Whenever Jess freaked out, CeCe was there to stroke her back. CeCe had always been there over the years for various meltdowns, including: Jess' break-up's; Jess' work-related problems; and failed parent traps. Her eyes wandered around the room after a break in her thought-process, she caught a glimpse at the clock. Winston had been quiet, almost a little too much, but Jess only assumed he was trying to be respectful. She looked at him, a crazy look in those blue eyes of hers, "Winston… What day is it?"

Though she already knew the answer to the question, she wanted to be positively certain.

**MEANWHILE**

"The more you fight it, the more you chafe, Schmidt," Nick said in a monotone voice, glancing up from the Newspaper- brought home from the store a little after noon- he never got to read due to Apt. 4D's infiltration five hours earlier.

Schmidt laid on the floor, feet and hands knotted together like a prized hog. He'd been that way since CeCe's crying became outright ridiculous, hitting notes and octaves Nick didn't even know existed. How was it possible that the whole building didn't hear her during the days she used to sleep with Schmidt? _He must have gagged her_, Nick thought to himself before nodding lightly in agreement. Schmidt growled behind the bandana Winston tied around his mouth. Nick folded the newspaper in half, literally throwing it aside for later, not caring where it landed as he chucked it over his shoulder. He leaned forward over Schmidt, probably debating if removing the bandana was a good idea, but he didn't really mind if Schmidt said something the model would overhear; if it made her leave, at this point, Nick would at least die happy when Jess strangled him.

He yanked the bandana down from over his best friend's mouth. "My little chocolate M&M is in pain and you sir, you tie me up like Pumba. Nick Miller, you're supposed to be my friend. I can't… I can't even."

"Schmidt."

He shook his head, "No, Nick. I don't even want to hear it. You've broken the no-nail oath, You've let Jessica Day come between us, and now you're even keeping me from my Jai Ho. What's next, Nick?"

Questioningly, Nick raised an eyebrow at the man on the floor of their shared loft. He looked truly broken, which could clearly coincide with how Nick felt the moment he heard Jess' name. "First of all, I didn't break the oath, Schmidt. It was a stupid kiss, and we've already settled it. Second of all, Jar."

"You can't _jar_ me, you've already degraded me by tying me up with your half-assed knots," Schmidt tried to rock from side to side in an attempt for escape but gave in once he saw how Nick eyed him, "You will know the pain of rope-burn for an eternity, even if I have to Zeus your Prometheus, mark my words Miller."

Nick shook his head, "I don't understand half of what you just said to me." Schmidt gave a taunting laugh, "Oh come on, Nick. You wear plaid shirts and you look like a lumber jack, I know you watch Supernatural. I see it on our DVR." Nick gave his signature turtle-face down to his best friend, not denying or confirming anything, his mood quickly shifting back to one of annoyance when Schmidt started rocking side to side again. Nick placed his boot on Schmidt's abdomen so he could no longer move. If the bound man had ever looked more unhappy in an instance, Nick had never witnessed it.

"Get your grubby boots off of me, this shirt is Versace, you savage. Your grubby Timbo's have yet to earn the privilege to be near such fabric, let alone touch it." Nick rolled his eyes at the words spoken to him, any other man would question whether they were serious or not; Nick didn't even bother, he'd lived with Schmidt for longer than most marriages lasted; he knew that every douchebaggin' syllable was nowhere near farce.

"Just because I can't jar you, doesn't mean I won't smack you with it, Schmidt."

Winston came walking into the room, almost too casually, "You can untie him now." He stood beside the couch, looking over at Nick who only stared up at him in confusion, "What?"

"You heard the man, untie me, Paul Bunyan."

Both men looked down at Schmidt at the utterance of his words. When Nick looked up at Winston again, his face was almost pleading for the request to be an inaccurate one. Truth be told, Schmidt was less of a handful when he was tied up.

"Come on, man. Untie him. We're going out tonight, with Jess and CeCe."

Nick raised an eyebrow at Winston's words. He wasn't exactly sure if he'd been invited, what with the way Jess had been avoiding him like the plague.

_Earlier that day for breakfast_

"_Morning, Jess." He said, a bit of cheer in his voice, which was uncharacteristic for him; Nick hated mornings._

"_Oh my god," Jess whimpered, dropping her freshly fixed bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal into the sink before walking out of the kitchen area, exiling herself to her room._

Schmidt was instantly in a good mood again, "Oh? Are we going to a club? Because you know how much I enjoy clubs, especially when they play Beyonce. National Anthem or no, home guuurl is flawless."

"Shut up, Schmidt." Winston and Nick said in unison, voices raised slightly from their inner annoyance.


	2. I Can't Ballet You

**A/N: Though this is an eventual NickxJess story, there will also be bits of SchmidtxCeCe because if you love Nick and Jess, you _have got to_ WANT Schmidt and CeCe to work things out too. The main focus of the first two chapters is Schmece oriented only due to the fact that if not for CeCe's breakdown about marrying Shivrang, Aria would not have been reunited with Nick and Schmidt and Jess would not have met Chase, hence there would be nothing to build a story on. The third chapter will revolve more around NickxJess and their problems and less about SchmidtxCeCe and theirs. Don't get me wrong, though. Schmece will be resolved over the course of the story, too. But you won't see them as much as Ness after this chapter.**

* * *

Schmidt stared at CeCe, who was looking as good as new since Jess removed all the smeared make-up from her flawless face before they all piled out of the loft. Nick was in charge of keeping his best friend on a short leash tonight, Jess didn't want Schmidt taking advantage of CeCe's weak moment. It was no surprise that everyone thought that the star-crossed lovers belonged together; Jess just wanted her impulsive mate to be happy, and right now, Shivrang made her happier than Schmidt did.

Denial; that's what Schmidt called it. A blind nun could see how in love CeCe and Schmidt were, but people always have their reasons for doing things; whether those reasons were one-hundred percent correct, most of the time, was a completely different story.

"Where are we again?" Schmidt asked, voice ringing out way too loudly. A group of unshaven people who sat in a circle on the floor, chanting, looked up at him with sneers. "This doesn't look like a club," he reiterated, in a hushed tone, for about the third time. Schmidt stepped behind Nick for fear of his safety when drum-banging people came out onto the small elementary gymnasium-like stage.

Everyone stared in amazed confusion, all but Jess who only looked pissed off, "I can't believe this," she breathed. Nick smirked, he wanted to say something but he fought against it, holding back his laughter until Winston said, "This doesn't look like a 1920's tribute to anything, Jess."

Body moving in time to the rhythm of the music, Schmidt voiced, "Ohh. I wonder if they know how to drum Beyonce." Nick turned to glare at his rhythmless bestie and distanced himself from the tom-foolery. CeCe muffled laughter at Schmidt's comment and at that moment, it didn't matter to Jess where they were, as long as her best friend was laughing again. Eventually they found their seats and the play engulfed them.

After the performance of an amateur play entitled _I Can't Ballet You _was over with, they announced that they would be serving refreshments along with a buffet in the dining hall next to the theater and there you would be able to meet the cast of the play. This slightly peaked Jess' interest, only because everyone was either blindfolded or masked throughout the production. Part of her felt like among those mouths would be a mouth to make her forget Nick's mouth and she desperately needed that; that would be the only way they'd stop avoiding one another.

"Hey, you guys want to go next door?" Jess asked casually. Everyone looked at her, nodding and saying a few words of acceptance toward her latest idea.

* * *

Once they were all decided, they gathered their things and walked over together. They walked into the well-lit main room of the dining hall, Jess shivered at how much the place actually reminded her of the hotel dining hall where the Indian Marriage Convention was held. Part of her wanted to turn and walk away, and she started to until she found herself face to face with Nick. "I.. uh.. I'm going to go check out the food."

CeCe's eyes grew wide with realization that she had just been abandoned by the only person keeping her sane. She looked around in search of Jess but it was too late, Schmidt was standing next to her, an unreadable expression on his face. "What, Schmidt?"

"Nothing, just admiring the view, and the good music." He pointed up at the speakers on the ceiling. She seemed to be straining to hear but she was actually trying to digest the song that was playing. "Schmidt, did you go to the DJ and request Bonnie & Clyde?"

"You know how I feel about Beyonce. Or women of color in general."

"Schmidt," She closed her eyes, trying to stay calm in the midst of his advances.

He moved in closer, "Dance with me, _Cecelia_." She stared into his eyes, and for a second she almost considered it; she almost gave in. Maybe it was the way he said her name, passion coating it; Maybe it was his cologne; She didn't know what it was about him, but she had to _run from it_.

"You know I …don't really like Beyonce anymore, Schmidt."

He gasped in an overly dramatic way, "So, first you're too good for me. Now Queen Bey?"

There was a long awkward silence and they stared at each other before his voice softened and he spoke again, "You know how I feel about you, Cecelia. You've always known."

For a moment, CeCe saw nothing but _red_. She heard his softly spoken words playing on repeat and there was no one around to talk her down from the immediate spike in her temper. How could she have _known_? He broke up with her because he was scared of his feelings, instead of talking to her, he ran. He obviously never knew how important he was to her. She could admit, they both had problems from the beginning; it was never easy for she and Schmidt. First, she was afraid to let people know they were together. Then, they were fine but he got scared of the emotion. And she didn't even want to talk about the caramel miracle debacle of 2012. But the audacity of this man, he obviously had some big balls to say she'd always known; she didn't. Last time she checked, he wasn't a mind reader either, so there's no way in hell he could possibly know anything that went on in her head. If he did, he'd know how much he hurt her. She wanted the two of them to work, but they were from two totally different worlds.

"Have I Schmidt? Because I don't know. _Queen Bey _did coin the phrase, if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it," She uttered the words through clenched teeth before flashing her engagement ring at him and the moment everything was all out in the open, she regretted it; she saw that look on his face and she knew that it was then he'd reached his breaking point. She'd broken this man.

He spoke even softer now, almost inaudible alongside the sound of the music that swarmed around them, "Wha… What?"

"I have to find Jess," She said simply, rounding him completely before going in the direction she'd last spotted her brightly dressed amiga. Jess was standing by the buffet, hair up in a sapphire scrunchy that went well with her ensemble: dark denim jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt that had a sapphire stripe at the hem and suede elbow patches. CeCe walked over to Jess, her sparkly black heels complementing her light denim jeans and long, black, and flowy tee. "Avoiding Nick?"

"Do I have a choice?" Jess sighed before turning to the flawless being beside her. Slightly, she wondered if they'd ever be destined for happiness; true happiness.

**MEANWHILE**

"Tough break, Schmidt," Nick said, cautiously approaching the table where Schmidt sat, Winston quiet at his side. The Jewish man's head whipped up, "You saw that?" Nick only nodded. Schmidt was ready to go to his car and sob his eyes out when Nick's face became totally unreadable, eyes fixed on something in the distance behind him; or someone. "Nick, what the hell is the matter wi-" Schmidt didn't even finish asking the question when he turned around and saw her.

She was pretty small, and her tutu looked like it was going to weigh her down. The caramel skinned girl was deep in a heated conversation with a much taller blonde guy when she noticed the set of eyes on her from a few feet away. She left the dance floor, tutu and leotard clad, the guy following closely behind her. Probably out of instinct.

"Nick? Schmidt?" She asked almost out of breath, words laced with excitement.

Schmidt stood up and Nick's eyes grew wide. Schmidt was angled closer to her so there was no way Nick could stop what happened next. "Aria, my goodness. You have grown so much. I didn't know you were still doing ballet; you ballerina minx, you," Schmidt cried out before wrapping his arms around her tightly.

Nick face-palmed. This was sure to be disastrous.

* * *

They were all sitting down at the table, now joined by CeCe and Jess, who noticed the strangeness from across the room. "So what have you been doing?" Nick asked, clearly annoyed at his best friend for sitting between him and the girl his words were directed at. "Clearly Ballet, Nicholas." Schmidt fawned all over her and it almost made CeCe sick.

"Actually, I'm a lawyer now. Ballet is nothing but a hobby on the weekends," She smiled shyly at Nick.

CeCe squinted her eyes a but, "W-w-wait? How the hell do you all know Schmidt?" Jess raised an eyebrow at her bestie's aggression before adding, "I think she means… who are you?"

The girl face-palmed for a brief moment, "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm Aria. Coach is my older brother." Jess smiled at the mention of their old friend, Coach, she missed that guy. Just knowing that Aria was his sister made her like the girl that much more.

Winston nodded a bit, understanding dawning on him though he'd pretty much been texting Daisy the entire time. "And who's he?" He asked, tucking his phone away while nodding to her tall friend in a _Zombie Bait _T-shirt and some dark denim jeans. Aria's cheeks flushed a bit before she realized how rude she was being, "Oh, this is my roommate, Chase. He came up with the idea of improvisation mixed with modern dance. Every night the play ends a different way."

"Nice to meet all of you," Chase said simply.

Jess' eyes widened at the man she barely looked at. She was just beginning to wonder why she didn't look at him more. _He was gorgeous. _"Well hello, partner," She almost squeaked happily.

Chase laughed.

Nick rolled his eyes.

CeCe squinted at Aria.

Aria stared at Nick.

Schmidt stared at Aria.

"This should be fun," Winston said, looking up from a freshly replied text, taking in what was sure to be a table full of drama and love triangles to last him a lifetime.


End file.
